Iowa girls never ventured far, grandma says

by Ryan J. Foley - Jul. 24, 2012 11:28 PMAssociated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The grandmother who was baby-sitting two Iowa cousins when they disappeared nearly two weeks ago after going for a bike ride said Tuesday that she has no idea how they ended up across town by a lake.

Wylma Cook, 72, said that Lyric Cook and Elizabeth Collins occasionally went biking while she baby-sat them several days a week at Collins' parents' home in Evansdale. But she said they almost always stayed within blocks and had never gone to Meyers Lake, a mile away.

"It shocks me, OK," Cook said. "The girls never rode that far, never. It was in a two-block area, that's it."

Authorities found the girls' bikes and a purse July 13 on a path near the lake, hours after they were reported missing in Evansdale, a northeast Iowa town of 4,700. FBI bloodhounds picked up on the girls' apparent scent near the lake last week and investigators have ruled out the possibility of drowning.

An extensive search involving local, state and federal investigators has failed to find them. FBI spokeswoman Sandy Breault said there was "nothing new" about the case Tuesday.

Breault stood by her assertion that investigators believe the girls are alive.

"They are not going to reveal the reasons why. It would jeopardize the investigation and the children," she said.

David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, said that claim means investigators could "have something quite important" for evidence. He said cases of two children being abducted were rare since it would be hard for one person to control both, which makes the common motive of sexual gratification less likely in this case.